Refrigerator cabinet door construction



March 18, 1.941.. v KQROPCHAK 2,235,454 L NEFRIGERATOR CABINET DOORCONSTRUCTION Filed April 27, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l f. my.

gmell March 18, '1941. v. yKoRoFcHYAK 2,235,454

REFRIGERATOR CABINET DOOR GONSTRUGTINl Filed April 27, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2` v By l PatentedMar. 18, 1941l UNITED STATES REFRIGERATORCABINET DOOR CONSTRUCTION vlaaimirixoropchak, Kearny, N. J. AppucanunApril 27, 1940, serian No. 33:2,112 1 claim. (Cl. 156-10) articles fromthe storage compartment of the cabinet. a

The primary object of this invention is the provision of self-closingtransparent doors for the cabinet which will permit full view of theinterior of the storage compartment of the cabinet to be had on theopening of the main or ordinary door of said cabinet, so that a personmay conveniently select or determine the exact l5 location of aparticular article in thev compartment without admitting outside air tosaid compartment. A further object of this invention is the provision ofan inner door construction comprising sliding transparent flexiblecondensation-proof doors and mountings therefor, whereby eachextransparent doors when manually released from" an open position.

With these and other objects in view, as will become more apparent'asthe description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as willbe hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

Fora complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a front elevation, partly in section. illustrating a refrigeratorcabinet with the main or ordinary door removed and showing theapplication of the present invention to the cabinet. Figure 2 is asectional view taken on the line 2-v-2 of Figure 1. l

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

' Figure 4` is a sectional view taken yon the line 4-4 of Figure 1. i

Figure 5 is a. detail sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6*.is a detail sectional view taken on the line 6 6 of Figure 2.

'55' Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentaryy sectional view illustrating aportion of one of the sliding transparent iiexible doors.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating an interlockingconnection between the adjacent ends of the exible transparent doors. 5^

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 5 indicates arefrigerator cabinet offany conventional construction. the mainv door ofthe storage compartment 6 being indicated by the character 1. In orderto prevent an excess 10 amount of outside air from entering the storagecompartment 6 when the main door l is opened, the present invention isadapted to the `cabinet and consists primarily of a pair of transparentflexible sliding doors 8 which when in closed po- 15 sition will lie inclose proximity to the main `or ordinary door 'I and will exclude to thestorage compartment 6 outside air when the door 'I is in an openposition and still permit a. person to readily view the interior of thestorage compart- 2o ment for the purpose of selecting a particulararticle therein. Either of the doors 8 may be `conveniently moved intoan open position and whenever either of said doors is moved into an openposition the other door closes approximately 25 one-half of thecompartment and consequently reduces the amount of exchange of air fromthe outside of the cabinet to the interior of the storage compartment. y

In adapting the sliding doors 8 to the cabinet, 3o auxiliary walls 8 aremounted in the compartment 6 and spaced a selected distance from the topand bottom walls of said compartment to form door chambers I0 vin whichthe sliding doors 8 may move when moving into an open 35 position. Byreferring to Figure 2 it will be seen that the sliding doors when inclosed position still partly remain in the door compartment or chambersIll.

the lower door compartment I0 to the entrance 50` of moisture thereto.

Each sliding dor 8 consists of a pair of spaced. sheets of flexibletransparent material I4 between which are arranged spacing strips I5.The spacing strips are secured to the transparent sheets 5I the doors 8for protecting the exible transparcnt material from which said doors areconstructed `in the sliding movement of the doors linto and out oftheidoor chambers I0 and over the guide strips Il.y Hand grips Il aresecured to the doors-8, as clearly shown in vFigure 4.

Casings I9 are mounted in the compartment e 6 adjacent the entrance andlocatedth'erein are posts 20 on whichv are mounted clock'type springs2|. Thesprings each'fhave -onefend secured to'a post. to the doors 8 sothat when said doors aremoved intoy an open position the springs arecaused to wind and thereby become tensioned-'so thatvon freeing thedoors the springs automatically move the doors into closed position. f

The casings I9 carry door stops 23 to be enl gaged` by' the adjacentA orclosing edges of thel doors when saidl doors assume closed position. Thedoors 8 are notched to receive the stops23.

The upper door 8 has a channeled member 23' mounted therein to receivethe lower door 8 when said doors 8 move into closed position to providea seal between the adjacent ends of the doors 8. From the foregoing'description taken inv connection with the accompanying drawings,v itwill be seen that if unintentionally or otherwise, the` e. main doorshould be left open, the cold tempera-'f ture in the storage compartmentof the cabinet is still retained by the present invention.' Furchanneistrips les are applied to the edges or The other ends 'of the springsare..secu`red" claim is:

of'lma'terial I4 and act'to close the space therebetween for'the purposeof forming 'a dead'air"l chamber between the sheets of material Hjcomfprising the sliding vdoor lfor the-purpose of pre-l` venting theaccumulationof condensation there-1` ther it 'will be seen that thesliding doors constituting the principal part of the present inventionmake it possible to open one-half of the storage'- compartment of thecabinet at one time While the other half remains closed. Thus the voperating time of the reirigerating machine of fthe cabinet is reducedalso if ice is used for cooling of the cabinet, melting time of the iceis reduced thereby realizing a saving inthe operating costs of therefrigerator.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of myfinvention,it will be understood that minor changes in construction, combinationand arrangement o! parts may be made without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus `described the invention, what I ,f In a refrigerator`cabinet; having an entrance toasto'ra'ge compartment, transparentexible Y slidable'doors for said entrance, guide strips carried vbyvsaid cabinet to slidably support said Adoors,vertically and formovement from and toward each other to close andjopen said entrance .ofthe cabinet, horizontally arranged door chambers formed in the upper andlower portions of said cabinet 4and connecting with the guide strips tokreceive portions of the exible doors on. the latterv moving towardopenposition, casings mounted in the cabinet adjacent the entrance, postsmounted in said casings, and clockv type springs mounted on said postsand secured thereto and to said doors and slidably engaging the guidestrips `for automatically closing the doors on the vlatter beingreleased from an open y A position.

I l VLADIIVIIR KORPCHAK.

